Lord of Lies

'It would seem,' I said to him, 'that you believe the akashic crystal does still exist. And that you know where it might be found.'

We smiled at each other then, and he said, 'Well, Val, I admit that here knowledge must yield to supposition. But late in the Age of Law, a Master Savon recorded that the akashic crystal was hidden away to keep it safe. There are verses that tell of this. Do you remember the famous one about Ea's vilds?'

I remembered very well the Lokilani's magic wood which Master Juwain called a vild and the verse that described it:

There is a place 'tween earth and time,

In some forgotten misty clime

Of woods and brooks and vernal glades,

Whose healing magic never fades.

An island in the greenest sea,

Abode of deeper greenery

Where giant trees and emeralds grow,

Where leaves and grass and flowers glow.

And there no bitter bloom of spite

To blight the forest's living light,

No sword, no spear, no axe, no knife

To tear the sweetest sprigs of life.

The deeper life for which we yearn,

Immortal flame that doesn't burn,

The sacred sparks, ablaze, unseen -

The children of the Galadin.

Beneath the trees they gloze and gleam,

And whirl and play and dance and dream

Of wider woods beyond the sea

Where they shall dwell eternally.

As I recited this well-known work, the words seemed to hang in the library's still air like dreams. Flick flamed brightly and whirled about to the verses' music. When I had finished, Master Juwain smiled at me and said, 'Very good. And very true, as we have seen. But someone — I couldn't determine who — rewrote these lines to tell of another Vild where the crystal must have been hidden. Listen:

There is a place 'tween earth and time,

In some secluded misty clime

Of woods and brooks and vernal glades,

Whose healing magic never fades.

An island in a grass-girt sea,

Unseen its lasting greenery

Where giant trees and emeralds grow,

Where leaves and grass and flowers glow.

And there the memory crystal dwells

Sustained by forest sentinels

Of fiery form and splendid mien:

The children of the Galadin.

And they forever long to wake,

To praise, exalt and music make,

Breathe life through sacred memories,

Recall the ancient harmonies.

Beneath the trees they rise and ring,

And whirl and play and soar and sing

Of wider woods beyond the sea

Where they shall dwell eternally.

'Do you see?' Master Juwain said. 'If Kane told true, we know that there are at least five Vilds somewhere on Ea.'

'Kane told true,' I said with sudden assurance.

'And if these verses tell true, there must be a lake somewhere in the middle of one of Ea's grasslands, and an island in the middle of it.'

'Why a lake?' Maram asked. 'The Vild we discovered in Alonia was in the middle of the forest, and yet the verses described it as 'An island in the greenest sea'.'

'Because the new verses,' Master Juwain said, 'tell of a grass- girt sea. That can only be a lake.'

'Metaphors,' Maram grumbled as he yawned. 'Poetic fancies.'

'No, I think not,' Master Juwain said. 'There is a certain precision here. The maker of the verse might have written of a grassy sea, mightn't he? Why grass-girt, then?'

'Ah, who could ever know?'

Master Juwain smiled at Maram's crabbiness, then said, 'I once read of an invisible island in the middle of a lake. Until tonight, I thought that story was a fancy.'

Something sounded deep within me and I looked at Master Juwain through the candles' flickering light. 'And where was this lake, then?'

'At the edge of the Wendrush. Where the grasslands come up against the curve of the Morning Mountains, above the Snake River.'

I nodded my head, for I had once seen this lake on a map. 'That's Kurmak country I perhaps Atara has finished her business in Tria and has returned there.'

I gazed out the windows at the stars in the sky to the west. It seemed that, just then, these bright bits of light could be no brighter than my eyes.

'Val!' Maram half-shouted. 'I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking!'

'I must know,' I said to him.

'But Val, why do we need to go looking for this Vild and some old crystal? Almost everyone already believes you to be the Maitreya. And when we reach Tria, I'm sure you'll prove this to everyone's satisfaction.'

'I must know, Maram,' I said again. 'Before we reach Tria, I must truly know.'

I drew my sword then and held it straight out toward the west. Once this bright blade of silustria had pointed me toward the Lightstone; now it pointed me toward my fate.

'This lake,' I said, 'lies along the way to Tria.'

'A way without roads,' Maram grumbled. 'A way through the Kurmak's lands and then through unknown parts of Alonia.'

'The Kurmak will give us safe passage,' I said with sudden certainty. 'Sajagax will. He is Atara's grandfather, and he'll have to offer her friends hospitality.'

For a while, as dawn's red glow brightened the windows, we stood among the books and little gelstei telling tales of Sajagax, the Kurmak's famous chieftain. We debated whether to seek the akashic crystal in his lands. Master Juwain seemed willing to risk his life — if not the Lightstone itself — in discovering what knowledge the crystal might contain. I held that we would face risks along whatever road we took, and of what use would the Lightstone ever be if we never learned its secrets?

And so in the end even Maram agreed to this new quest. Master Juwain locked the drawers containing the thought stones and returned the keys to Master Tavian. Then we rejoined the Guardians where they waited in the